


The Space Between Stars

by skytramp



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Gen, Homesickness, Lesbians in Space, Outer Space, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-01-31 20:46:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18599116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skytramp/pseuds/skytramp
Summary: “That wasn’t very polite.”A voice admonished as she walked. Sabine heard the cold feminine voice leak through the walls, surrounding her as if the ship was a living person. An annoyingly pious living person.“You know, Gaia, if I want your opinion I’ll ask for it.”Sabine, a hardened middle-aged space trader, travels the galaxy with her ship,The Gaia Jumper, making a living while trying to outrun her past.





	The Space Between Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mytha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mytha/gifts), [witheachsunrise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/witheachsunrise/gifts), [Icie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icie/gifts).



> This is a treat for Original Work Exchange.

“We don’t take passengers.” Sabine said, and she let them know it was final by punching the close button on the hatch and watching their dismayed faces through the quickly closing ship door. She turned away and headed deeper into the ship.  
  
_“That wasn’t very polite.”_ A voice admonished as she walked. Sabine heard the cold feminine voice leak through the walls, surrounding her as if the ship was a living person. An annoyingly pious living person.  
  
“You know, Gaia, if I want your opinion I’ll ask for it. Ready engines for departure sequence.” Sabine straightened her jacket. The plastine fabric often stuck against itself in difficult ways, and despite the intimidating aura she felt the long, black jacket gave her, Sabine almost wished she’d gone with peasant’s cot-lin instead.  
  
The interior hatches opened and closed for Sabine as she made her way towards the bridge. _The Gaia Jumper_ was a small ship, really only a bridge, a cargo bay, and two non-descript tiny rooms Sabine used as a kitchen and office. She usually slept in her helmsman’s chair. There _wasn’t_ room for passengers, she confirmed to herself, and felt comfortable in her consistent decision to turn them down. Gaia always told her humans weren’t meant to travel alone, and Sabine had been proving her wrong for twenty years.

Gaia initiated the departure sequence and Sabine readied herself in the bridge. She secured departure clearance from Range-Port’s authorities, stating her cargo of scrap ore and antique art-holos, and she decoupled from the station and departed for open space.

Strictly speaking, Sabine didn’t have a destination in mind. Gaia usually kept track of the running market in scrap ore at each of the colonizer stations in the Voidward Province, and Sabine knew she’d gotten a good price on it at Range-Port, but she was beginning to regret the purchase of the art-holos. It felt sentimental, buying something that serves no purpose beyond being pleasant to look at, but Sabine remembered her great grandmother having something similar in their shared home on Ellentar 4. _Void_ , she thought, _it absolutely is sentimental.  
_

“Gaia.” Sabine called, slightly louder than necessary as the ship cleared the outer edges of Range-Port’s defensive ring.  
  
Gaia answered immediately. _“Yes, Sabine? What do you require?”_   

“Void, you don’t have to be so helpful all the time.” Sabine grumbled.

_“Actually, I do. It’s in my programming.”  
_

_That snarky chip-head_ , Sabine thought.. “Oh, whatever.” She yanked the tie from her hair and let it fall around her shoulders for a few seconds before immediately putting it back up in a tight bun. “Tell me which colonizer station has the best wholesale price on metalite ore, but leave out Dunston. They can’t pay me enough to go back to that garbage pile.”

_“Including travel costs, our current cargo could be sold at 5-10% profit in Narrow Lane, Zelfine, or Parva. There is also a projected profit of 8-12% on Ellentar 4.”  
_

Sabine froze, and then finished tying up her hair. She straightened her jacket again and stood up. “Ellentar 4 is an interior station. I only asked for the colonizers.” She said coldly. “Set course for Zelfine. I haven’t seen the sparklers in an age.”

 _“Yes, Sabine.”_  
  
It might only be her imagination, but sometimes Sabine thought Gaia sounded guilty. The AI knew what she was doing. Sabine left Ellentar 4 twenty-five years ago, and as far as she was concerned, she was never going back. Gaia seemed to think she needed to be shown the road home on regular intervals.

Sabine felt the thrusters engage as _The Gaia Jumper_ set course for Zelfine, another colonizer station in the Voidward Province, not much different than Range-Port. Their only claim to fame was the sparklers, an auditorium sized room with walls built from transparent plastine and glass-crystal that reflected even the light of an LED reflector 10,000 fold, making the entire room sparkle. Sabine had gone there as a younger woman, shortly after leaving Ellentar, she marveled in the middle of millions of glowing lights, and felt like a star in her own universe.

Gaia interrupted her reminiscing. _“Would you like to hear the price differential on the art-holos?"  
_

“No.” Sabine replied, clearing her throat. “I think I’m going to hang onto them for a while.”

 _“As you wish. At current speed we will reach Zelfine in 19 hours and 6 minutes. I advise sleeping before arrival.”_  

“Sure.” Sabine replied and leaned back in her chair, watching the empty space before them stretch out in its endless night. She kept thinking about the art-holos. She still wasn’t even sure why she bought them, they weren’t cheap, and they definitely weren’t her usual cargo fare, but something about the sight of them had her offering full credit price before she could bat an eye. She was grateful, at least, that Gaia wasn’t questioning the purchase. She wasn’t sure how she’d explain herself, and maybe once they offloaded the scrap metalite in Zelfine she’d figure out how to address it. That was a problem for future-Sabine to deal with.

It wasn’t yet time to sleep, so Sabine made her way to her makeshift kitchen to get herself a meal. It wasn’t much, Range-Port had been bereft of any food worth buying, but she was able to smear some sauce over a few limp pieces of cycle-bread and wash it down with a sweetened water. “Hey, Gaia.” She called, still sitting in her rickety single chair in the kitchen.

_“Yes, Sabine? We are 17 hours and 38 minutes from Zelfine.”  
_

“Thanks for the update. But I was gonna ask about something else.” Sabine replied. She finished the last of her water and began walking the short distance back to the bridge. “Why do you think I bought those art-holos?”

The pause before Gaia’s reply made Sabine regret the question instantly. She knew it was stupid, she had just been celebrating that Gaia wasn’t hassling her about it, and now she goes and does this? She just couldn’t get over the fact that she, herself, wasn’t sure why she did it. And Gaia was an AI, she’s got to know everything, right?

 _“I don’t have opinions about your choices, Sabine._ ” Gaia began, and her omnipresent voice almost sounded hesitant.

“Yes you do.” Sabine interrupted before Gaia could continue, “You told me I wasn’t very polite like two hours ago. Last week you judged me for eating the cycle-bread crust i dropped on the floor. Just tell me what you think.” Sabine reached the bridge and sat down in her helmsman chair.

 _“I think….”_ Gaia began, and this time the hesitance was definitely apparent. _“I think you miss your home. It’s been so long since you’ve seen any of them. Have you not considered that they must miss you as well?  
_

Sabine took a deep breath and steadied her voice. “Thank you, Gaia.” She replied. “Wake me up when we reach the outer Zelfine defense perimeter.” She closed her eyes, pretending to doze off immediately, and let her mind fill with images of the home she kept trying to forget.


End file.
